Holder Flack, DOJ Spokeswoman Resigns from DOJ

Tracy Schmaler, Attorney General Eric Holder’s top press defender, will resign her position on March 8. This reporter recently caught Schmaler colluding with far leftwing advocacy organization Media Matters for America to attack the reputations of whistleblowers, members of Congress, and people in the new media.

People who were targets of the collusion between Department of Justice press aide Schmaler and far leftwing advocacy organizations called for her resignation in September 2012, when evidence of her activity emerged. Now, they are getting their wish.

Emails uncovered last year show Schmaler worked with Media Matters to smear people trying to uncover details about Justice Department scandals. As far back as 2010, Schmaler worked with the George Soros-funded media hit squad to attempt to defame whistleblowers from the New Black Panther Party scandal with regard alleged voter intimidation at a Philadelphia polling place on election day in 2008.

Schmaler worked with Media Matters’ Jeremy Holden to smear former DOJ Civil Rights division attorneys J. Christian Adams and Hans Von Spakovsky in 2010. She also worked to smear now-former Civil Rights division attorney Christopher Coates, who was an active employee of the Department of Justice at the time.

In 2011, Schmaler took over as Holder’s top press aide when Matt Miller left the DOJ. (Miller has since been hired by embattled New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez). When she took over, the scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious began heating up.

Schmaler turned to her friends at the advocacy organization Media Matters for help again. Over the coming years, emails show she colluded to smear House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and other lawmakers; Fox News’ William LaJeunesse, Judge Andrew Napolitano, Megyn Kelly, Martha MacCallum, Bill Hemmer, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity; this reporter, who at the time worked for The Daily Caller; Townhall Magazine’s Katie Pavlich; Breitbart News editor Joel Pollak and writer Ken Klukowski, among others; Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips; National Review’s Andrew C. McCarthy, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney; and many other including bloggers who have covered the story from the very beginning.

After this reporter uncovered those emails while writing for The Daily Caller in September, Issa described those who were targeted by Schmaler and Holder via their collusion with Media Matters as President Barack Obama’s “enemies list.”

“Not since Richard Nixon have we seen a president who puts together an enemies list and has a whole team pursuing it,” Issa said about the collusion. “That’s what’s happened in this administration. It’s sad. It’s not the America I want to see going forward. I sincerely hope that after the election, regardless, the American people will have made a statement that they won’t tolerate this.”

Issa ally South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy promised, too, that there would be a congressional hearing on Schmaler’s and Holder’s collusion with groups like Media Matters. A hearing date has not yet been set, but Schmaler’s decision to resign from the DOJ may be an effort to avoid having to answer to Congress about her behavior.

Schmaler has not answered when asked by Breitbart News whether her resignation has anything to do with the coming hearings on DOJ collusion with groups like Media Matters.

Even though she’s resigning, Holder still spoke highly of Schmaler. “While I am sad to lose one of my closest and most trusted advisors, I am grateful to Tracy for her wise counsel, loyalty, good humor and unwavering support of me and the Justice Department over the last four years,” Holder said in a statement. “Tracy has been a valued member of my senior staff and a good friend whose tireless spirit and keen judgment have served me and this Department well. She will be truly missed, though I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”